This week I brought all the equipment and ingredients to make homemade ice cream into M's preschool class. Her classmates were abuzz with the excitement of a parent there with a new activity. They all gathered around a table and guessed the ingredients in ice cream (revealing they had not had much experience making it in the past). Each had a turn whisking the milk and sugar together. The teacher got them counting in unison as they whisked, "1, 2, 3, 4, ...." all the way to 20 and then they passed the bowl along and repeated this process. Everyone wanted to smell the open bottle of vanilla extract when I offered. Two kids shared the job of pouring in the heavy cream. M was at my left elbow and dashed to fetch or throw away things for me as needed. I got out the ice cream bowl with its thick-walled frozen sides and they all felt it and said "Brrr!" Then we poured the mixture in, turned the maker on, and let it spin for twenty minutes.
W had come along with me for this morning helping out in preschool, and so while we all waited for the ice cream to be ready, he got in on the volunteering too. He was so excited to read the class some ice-cream-themed picture books: Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop, the story "Ice Cream" in Frog and Toad All Year, and the Elephant and Piggy classic Should I Share My Ice Cream? He had practiced reading these aloud ahead of time at home, in particular the trick of how to physically hold the books so the kids could see the pictures while he read because, as he said, "I always hated when teachers didn't show the pictures until after they read the words." He was funny and expressive and did a great job. M was feeling extra excited that both her mom and brother were there, and took a proud spot next to this big guest reader the whole time. Her preschool classmates were a wonderful audience. W got compliments from his former preschool teachers. It felt like a good use of time for us all.
We like Young Rembrandts drawing lessons on YouTube-- one- to five-minute videos demonstrating how to draw... a kitten/an elephant/Santa/a snowman/fish/a butterfly, etc. The videos are perfect for the stage my almost-5-year-old is at, though plenty of them would be good for older kids as well. We like to draw as we watch, pausing the video after each step to draw that portion on our own papers, and then tapping "play" again. "Can we do a drawing lesson?" is a regular thing M asks to do at home. She loves them. (They've helped her grow as an artist too. She drew a bunch of hot air balloons in a picture for her grandparents a couple of months ago. I asked what the little square on each one was and she said "That's where the light is reflecting!")
So after running this by the teacher who was all for it, I brought the iPad and some of these bookmarked drawing videos to share with her classmates. They joined me at a table a few at a time to have their turn. (M of course stated she wanted to stay with me the whole time, and the teachers were great about that.) The experience was a great reminder of the vast developmental differences among three-, four-, and five-year-olds within the preschool spectrum, not to mention individual differences. Some gripped the marker with their whole first rather than their fingers, and some finished drawings were more identifiable than others. But we had a great time and a lot of cute drawings went home. Here's some of M's creations from those drawing lessons:
Thoughts on Volunteering
I've always tried to participate in my children's classrooms at least once each school year. Like most working parents, this took effort and planning. I set aside at least one of my three annual personal days so I could join in on a field trip whenever the opportunity arose during the year. I often asked if I could help out with something in the classroom on the day before Thanksgiving, since that was one day I could count on having off while my kids were in school. I found ways to get into school over February break when my break was a different week than my kids'.
It meant so much to me to get a better sense of the tone of their room, and to be able to picture them where they spent their days. It's always been so rewarding to see how excited they feel about Mom or Dad helping out for a day. To this end, over the past several years, I've taught preschoolers how to make gnocchi and how to string Cheerio necklaces on licorice strings, I've helped kindergartners plant seeds (with M a year old in the Ergo baby carrier on my hip), I've assisted second graders with a tricky sewing craft, and I brought our pug in for third-grade show and tell. My husband has helped work on hiking trails and run a holiday gift-making station-- at which he felt a little overwhelmed but still had fun!
This year, one of the joys of my more flexible homeschooling schedule is that it's easier to be more a part of M's preschool world...It's definitely easier this year, BUT-- I've always done it. And if I could get into my kids' classrooms when I had a teacher's schedule, I bet most parents can make it happen, and I recommend it! (One thing I've found-- and I speak as both a parent and a teacher-- is that it helps for the parent to just reach out to the teacher to suggest a time frame they are available, or an activity they would be willing to share, rather than waiting for an invitation from the teacher.) It's all about connection. It made me feel I knew teachers and peers better, I was better able to ask my kids questions about school, and more able to visualize the few stories I got from them about school, after I'd spent an hour or so there with them during school hours myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment